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The red flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia) is one of the world’s most spectacular trees when in full bloom and in recent times the development of more compact cultivars that are propagated vegetatively (usually by grafting) has made this an even more popular choice as a feature tree for the garden.
Vivid pink flowering gum
Pruning a young plant
When you first plant a flowering gum it is a vital time to shape it according to your design tastes. If, for instance you would like a compact ball-shaped specimen with maximum flowering then you should choose one of the more compact grafted cultivars that are available, especially from specialist native plant nurseries. Tip prune your new plant every couple of months through spring, summer and autumn for the first year after planting and you will develop a dense framework of shoots that will usually produce a more prolific flowering display the following summer.
An exception to this approach is if you want to develop a taller tree with a clean trunk to go at the back of a garden bed. In this case you will want to prune off any lower shoots and leave the strongest shoot to grow at the top of the plant. In my experience, however, most people want to keep their trees compact and as low as possible so it really comes down to what you wish to achieve with regard to the shape of your tree.
Pink flowering putting on a good show in late January
Pruning after flowering
The most critical pruning operation with your flowering gum once it is established is to prune it as soon as possible after it finishes flowering. A series of physiological changes happen during and after flowering if the tree is left to its own devices. The first is that the plant starts to put a lot of energy into the formation of the gumnuts, and if this process goes too far it seems to inhibit the production of flower buds for the following year. The second thing is that the tree kicks into vegetative growth that comes from the buds directly behind the spent flowers, and this means that the tree will just get taller and taller if it left to its own devices.
Pruning a flowering gum – Flowering gum before pruning in early February. The tree is starting to put energy into forming gumnuts
As soon as the flowers are spent and gumnuts are forming, it’s time to prune.
Pruning a flowering gum – using heavy duty loppers to reduce the tree’s height and cut into older wood
The bottom line is that it is extremely beneficial to prune as soon as possible after flowering to give you the best possible chance of a good flower display the following year. My preference is to prune the tree in such a way as to ensure there are lots of flowers at eye level as well as at the top of the tree (depending on the mature height of the cultivar in question). This can mean reducing the tree by 30% or more in height each year depending on your growing conditions. A set of heavy duty loppers can be a very handy tool as flowering gums are capable of considerable growth in a single year.
Make sure to prune just above a leaf bud or node
When pruning behind the flowers, ensure that you take each back to just above a node, preferably one where a small shoot has already emerged. Generally, these small shoots will kick into growth straight away and provide the flowering branches for the next blooming the following summer. This is also a great time to feed the plant to help ensure good growth straight away that will set up the framework for the next flowering. Even though flowering gums are not particularly sensitive to phosphorus I still use a low P fertiliser in my garden to ensure that any phosphorus sensitive plants such as banksias and grevilleas are not compromised.
Pruning a flowering gum – Flowering gum after pruning in late summer. After pruning the tree is ready to make new flowering stems and there will be a good display at eye level.
Pruning off rootstock suckers
Maintenance of the rootstock on grafted trees
The vast majority of flowering gum cultivars are grafted plants so it is well worth checking the graft union at the bottom of the plant. If there are any new shoots emerging from the base of the plant these should be removed while you are pruning the top of the plant. If they are left to grow they will tend to swamp the growth of the scion that is grafted on top that you are wanting to encourage.
My red flowering gum is only 4yesrs old but very few flowers..I was told to cut the gum nuts off is this right..I left them on because they looked good can I cut them off now.
Angus, we have a grafted flowering gum with sparse leafing until the branch tips. It flowers well in this area however the tree looks short of foliage – leaves only at the extremity of the branch. Further, I find there is a lot of dead twigs which I remove but the tree looks bare. Is this a common trait of this type of grafted miniature and can I prevent it? I have just finished pruning after a flowering. Best wishes..Ken
Hi Ken
Apologies for not getting back to you at the time you wrote in. It is hard to say whay us happening workout seeing the tree in situ but I would suggest that heavier pruning after flowering would help to create a smart canopy for your tree.
Cheers
Angus
Hi, I have two flowering gums Corymbia Ficifolia Baby Orange and Mini Red. They were planted about mid 2020 and are growing really well. No sign of flowers last summer, nor any buds yet. When do buds usually form, and is it normal to not flower in their first summer? Should I expect flowers this summer? They’re due a prune but I don’t want to cut off any buds!
Ive had two dwarf flowering gum for 5 years and hardly any flowers after first year so last year I took of all gum nuts and this year they flowered, not much, so I’ve
just gone and tip pruned them as you said so thank you for that information.
Hi Lois,
Give them a feed and a water right now as well and I would virtually guarantee a result for next summer.
Cheers
Angus
i have a yellow flowering gum about 2 years old and 6 ft. tall the first three feet have branches coming out from the trunk about 2 foot long it has flowered once about three months ago should i cut these off now peter
My tree has never flowered, am I still able to prune it? It is in a pot and it has grown to approx 1.6 metres tall, but really spindly and the branches are growing from one side only. I live in Sydney
Hello Susan – the one-sidedness of your tree may be to do with not enough sunlight all round, or the pot is in a windy situation, which can encourage it to only put out leaves on the more sheltered side. If you prune it now, it’s possible that you may lose any flowers that were developing. But I always think that a good-looking plant with no flowers one year is much better than a spindly, poor specimen even with a few eye-catching flowers.
Thank you Catherine, I appreciate your quick response. Have a lovely day.
Hi Angus,
We purchased a dwarf flowering gum about 5 to 6 years ago it had the most beautiful striking orange flowers on it at the time. It was in a pot about 10inches and the plant was about 500mm high.
We planted it and it started growing ok. After the 1st year I tip pruned it and it has grown very compact ever since but has never flowered since planting.
It is only about 5ft tall now but about the same wide and very thick growing with a profusion of new leaves. Just can’t seem to see any gum nuts on it ever since planting!
Any ideas as to why no flowers yet?
Regards,
John T
My red flowering gum is in flower at the moment. it seems to flower every 2nd year in my coastal garden.. about 4 hours north of brisbane. I had trouble with suckers one year but so far no more have grown. My plant seems to be growing at an angle, possible because of the wind we have here. This is quite a harsh environment so Im just pleased it has survived albeit with a rather strange shape to give me a heap of xmas flowers. thanks for your advice.
Hi Rhonda
It is never too late to shape your tree with judicious pruning! Good luck with it.
Cheers
Angus
Hi Angus I have a red flowering gum that is up against the corner of the house. It is about 4 meters high now. Would the roots be doing any damage to the house? If I cut it back to a manageable height and kept it pruned there would the roots continue to grow or would they stay at what they are now.
Hi we have a flowering gum about 4 to 5 years old but its very spindly ,when it has flowers they hang down,the trunk isnt very thick either, do i prune it.
Hi Suzanne
Yes I would prune the branches back by half after flowering.
Cheers
Angus
I think I have done something terrible . We planted a red flowering gum . It is one year old and we cut off the lower branches ( thinking lower branched might get thin the way of the roof ) I thought I read to do this somewhere in its second summer . Now I am so worried that I have created a tree that will be top heavy – or maybe more branched will now come up so there will be mid branches missing ? As I have now read wait till it is 6 feet talk . Old let me know if this will be a large unbalanced tree or it should be ok ? Thanks for this . JD
Hi Jo
I do not think you have created a disaster. As I mentored in the post it is certainly am option to prune lower branches to develop a taller tree. This could work particularly well for a seedling flowering gum that is likely to be well anchored. Grafted trees sometimes end up with unstable great unions at the base of the tree. So rest easy I think your tree will be fine.
Cheers
Angus
Thank you so much for this . I feel a lot better now – it was a very important memorial tree !
Hi I have a flowering gum that has grown outwards rather than upwards, how far back can I prune the outward branches?
The branches stretch out far, some 1.5 – 2metres. Can I cut them back down to 1/2 metre?.
The middle of the tree is very bare and all the growth is on the ends of the lanky branches, I”m scared if I cut them back nothing will grow in the centre.
What do you suggest.
Helen
Hi Angus I purchased 5 flowering gums but they were definitley not grafted and have been in the ground for around three years how long does it take a flowering gum to flower and how can I tell if these are in fact flowering gums they look awfully like a normal gumtree to me Regards Bob
Hi Bob – seed-grown Corymbia ficifolia will usually take between 5 to 10 years to produce its first flowers. The flower colour could be red but, as seed-grown plants have great genetic diversity, they could also turn out to be pink, white or orange.
Hi Bob
Apologies for not replying earlier. Catherine’s advice is all correct. As for telling what species they are they should have rough bark that is what is described as tesellated ( chunky in appearance) a google images search will show what it should look like. The leaves will be broad and glossy and the colour of the leaf veins will be an indication of flower colour ie the darker the colour the darker the flower is likely to be.
Cheers
Angus
Hi Angus,
My gums are 10 years old and have not flowered. What do I need to do?
Jo
Hi Angus, my dilemma is my orange flowering gum. It is in a pot (and has been for at least 5 years) but all its leaves are now brown, looks totally dead but the stems are still green when scrapped. Is it too far gone or will a good all over prune help it to rejuvenate. Im guessing not much further harm can possibly be done by trying, what do you think?
Hi Anne
Apologies that I did not get around to answering you when you wrote in. I hope you food go for a ‘renovation’ prune as that would definitely have been my advice.
Cheers
Angus
I have a silver princess that’s about 5yrs old,in the last 6mths it has developed suckers above the ground level.
Very quickly – in the last two weeks the main tree has become very poorly and looks to be dying.
Is it to late to save it, should l remove the healthy looking suckers or leave them?
Hi Angus
Thank you for article I always use as a reference before pruning after the flowering months. I’ve got a grafted red gum, only small in size it’s been growing for about 4yrs at our place, I’ve got one very long, and heavy lower limb (LHS in photo) is it possible to trim back? And hope it reshoots? Any tips on where to prune on the limb? I’m concerned on the weight of it keeps growing outwards.
Thanks, Angus. Very useful information!
I am building a new house and have a wonderful, well established, large red flowering gum towards the front. It has been cut back on 1 side, to the trunk years ago to give clearance to the previous house. It is looking quite unbalanced with all the growth high up and towards the street. How do I encourage it to shoot again on the bare side?
Epicormic shoots will pop out of dormant buds on even old wood on some trees, including flowering gums, in response to crown damage like fire or coppicing. The problem is that those buds will remain dormant as long as there is sufficient canopy left on the tree, so unless you removed a large amount of healthy tree canopy (which I’m guessing you don’t want to do), I don’t think there’s a way to get them to shoot.
Hello,
We had just planted a calypso queen gum two weeks ago. unfortunately last week we received two 42 degree days in a row and the tree’s leaves have all dried up and have turned a pale green colour however the earth has remained damp throughout the weather. The flowers are now drooping and some have yet to bloom, should I prune these flowers now to conserve energy for the tree as the stems and branches are still green when scratched.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hello Angus,
I am wanting a couple of flowering gums on my fence-line.
I would like them to grow so the trunks are about 1.5m+
Can you recommend which gum I buy? Looking to buy a more mature tree for planting.
I am in Melbourne for a full sun spot.
Thank you very much,
Kate
There is a variety called Wildfire that would be my choice says Angus
I have two dwarf orange flowering gums which up until this year had been flowering really well This year they are mostly laden with huge clumps of gum nuts. Is it too late to cut them off and how do I go about doing it ? Thanks
Hi Angus
We have 2 Orange Splendour (I think) flowering gums trees in our back yard (Belmont – Lake Macquaire NSW) which are now about 5 – 6 meters tall. They both flower profusely during summer but we have noticed this Autum they have lost a lot of leaves and are starting to look very staggley and bare. We’ve never really pruned them after flowering which I am now reading that we should do. Is it too late to prune them now and how hard should we prune them back????. We don’t want to lose too much height as we have lots of possums that visit us every night in these trees.
Any info and help would be much appreciated.
I have just seen your site. Our red capped gum is about 15 years old and has flowered profusely over the years encouraging many birds. In the past we have cut some of the seed pods off but there are very many still on the tree. Should I cut them all off? Thank you for keeping the site open for so long.
Mike
I have just seen your site. Our red capped gum is about 15 years old and has flowered profusely over the years encouraging many birds. In the past we have cut some of the seed pods off but there are very many still on the tree. Should I cut them all off? Thank you for keeping the site open for so long.
Mike
Hi. After the flowers are spent, the urn like capsules fell off and did not develop into gum nuts. Is there something wrong with my plant. I have just planted it for 4 months now.
I have a 10m flowering gum. Wind threatens to break off limbs. If I cut 3m off each limb (over a year) will new branches grow out?
Hi we have some old white flowering gums on our property, which have started dying, several of then .we cut them down and the lower branches are regrown from the base trunk. is there something I can do. I have a feeling after reading lots this is a canker. we live in Melbourne. Thanks Ro